my favorite Minnesota curmudgeon

[mellowtigger]

I've mentioned before that I like some of the thoughts that come from a University of Minnesota professor named P. Z. Myers.

This is a great example.

In short, they support our right to engage in lawful civic expression, but you better not participate in this one unless you’ve consulted your dean and filled out all the paperwork and you have a good excuse! Too bad. I’ve emailed all my students and told them to join in the protest. I haven’t consulted my dean or filled out any paperwork, but my excuse is that the entire country has been seized by an incompetent fascist cabal, and a brief work stoppage is the least we can do. We ought to have a nationwide general strike for a period of time sufficient to let the ruling junta know that we mean business. I wish my university had the conviction and the moral courage to speak out, rather than sending out long weasely excuses for doing nothing. - https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/01/22/the-least-we-can-do-do-better-university-of-minnesota/

I'm not looking forward to the bitter cold for the march and protest. I'm typing this post on my phone, awake at 3am after a bad dream woke me up, lying in a warm bed with electric blanket at maximum setting, but it's currently -29C/-20F outside, ignoring any windchill factor.

Edit: 5:30am. Woken again by another bad dream. Twice in one night. It is not a restful night.

Edit: 10am. I woke up a few minutes before 9am, so I finally got a good block of sleep accomplished. I woke up to the sound of a helicopter. There's another as I type this, nearly 10am. I keep checking FlightRadar24.com, where I usually do, but it's not identifying these sounds. All I see is higher altitude plane flights. The federal government is afoot. Meanwhile, I'm assembling my clothing for this afternoon. It took a while to find my balaclava. I wish I had some footwarmers and handwarmers. I know that good people intend to hand some out today, but I doubt they'll have enough for everyone.